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Show i : TT-! The Awakening of Zinc ' I By Frederic J. Haskiii. I 1 4 WASHINGTON". Nov. IS. Zinc Is the Cinderella of the metallic world. By this it Is not meant that it lias email feet, but that It lias many virtues and is be-in;? be-in;? kept in the background; unadorned, while its bolder sisters, iron, copper, lead, gold, platinum, are paraded hraienly and with- much acclaim of their merits. SO It comes about that the man in the street Knows zinc only as a name, Is quite huzy as to tho qualities peculiar to It, or the usefulness it vervee. Now appears the American Zinc institute insti-tute as a foster father to this neglected industrial child. It proposes to areas her up and show her lo the world tor what she le. Ii proposes that her sisters and brothers Bheil no longer borrow her charms without giving credit. It proposes that, when zinc avcs the life of Iron by preventing ii from rusting out, that the product shall be called "zlnked Iron" and not "galvanized iron." It propose;; that sloe, tho metal. Hhull no longer be called spelter, but shall be known by its own true name. Zinc Is. an elcnuiil. This means that it slnndi" alone as a Ihing apart. It Is not dependent on any other element for the qualities which It possesses. It Is an individual. in-dividual. There -Is nothing like ii In all tho world. It has qualities that enables it to play a role which no other existing thing can play. In the mining industry there are five metals closely related, both as to geologic occurrence and the metallurgical treatment treat-ment which they require. They are gold, silver, lead, copper and zinc. Wherever one is mined the others arc likely to appear ap-pear as by-pi-oducta. There have been many Interesting examples of mines which started out to bo one thing and ended by being another. It started out to be a silver mine. Later it was found that thero was a greater value of copper than sliver in Its orea. Time wore on and zinc began to appear as a valuable byproduct. by-product. Today zinc la bearing a dominance domi-nance in importance at Anai-onda. Most of the sine, however. Is recovered in mining lead. The big lead mines In Missouri are major producers, while New Jersey has zinc mines of large yield unaccompanied un-accompanied by other melule. As In many other raw materials the Cnited Slates is the world dominating figure In the production of alnc It yielded ten times as much of the metal as its nearest near-est competitor. Great Britain. Before the war Belgium, was one of the fillies producers of zinc, importing the ores from abroad, refining them and manufacturing manufactur-ing the zinc into articles for use and export. ex-port. Just now In America tiiere Is more lhan a passing Interest In zinc. The general public la not posted on the usee of zinc as fully as It la on the utnitIM of other rnetais. In Its uaes alnc is not called sine. When it lb used to coat steel sheets and wire to preserve them from weather corrosion It Is called "galvanized" steel: an a principal compound In making hrase its name is lost in the mixture atidthere-af'.er atidthere-af'.er It la called "braea." In view of the fact that fully SO per cent of the annual alhc output lo used In itwtlng ateel ana In compounding brass, a superficial public Is Justified in Toeing sight of the metal. It lo only when sine Is rolled Into sheets that. the public comes Into contact with the metal, and then only In a limited The public does not probe Into ammunition am-munition boxes to see If they are lined "Ith sine aheets: the lining of tea cad-dWa cad-dWa ami the Inside of humidors are not objwcu of fre-iuont Inspect loff. The ttae on shoe laces and cor! stays, the surface sur-face of the waahboarel or the top of the artnas fruit Jar are little details that the Zlne Is one o,' the three major nonfer-rous nonfer-rous mera'o T'-la means that It lo not of tho rue log Iron group. It ntnio. with r and lead In i.inaiT and utJdty to man. In lilt trier were s netted In the t'nlted Slates u.0M ten of sine, one-half one-half of which amount wae :oed to weather-proof otoel oheets au"l wire, about 10 per cent In coiiiMuiK:ir. brass and Iras than 10 per ce.v. rjUed Inu sl.eetr. e e e Ones likeliest chance of fkmtlleritr with sine la In Ihe form of kitchen utensils. uten-sils. These r not sine, however, btft iron coated with alnc. If one naa a mailing mail-ing list which Is ml on metal stripe and run through an addreseoampb. the oten-clls oten-clls are made of sine If the housewife has a olencll b means of which she Paints an orange on the back of the dining-room chairs. It Is likely to be made of alnc. The barbed wire on all the ranchos jT the west Is ptceened endlessly, end-lessly, though exposed to weather, because be-cause It lo coated with sine. Zinc Willi not rial. It lo a eoft metal the corners of which will nol scratch. It Is geod-temtvrod geod-temtvrod and yielding. It therefore has po.-ullar uses. Zinc ore. sometimes called "Jack" or "sulphide." la found In Paying quantities tn thirteen or n-ore states, and the fifty or more smelters are located either In th ore. b.rlng atataa or at points where Jlii'Hf fliUr,1,d ,r2J.ue oMhe sWtter s called ape: sr. and It Is In this form that th bulk of tho metal la sold. e e e Dut because alnc Ma not called sine, and haa boon foot losing Ita idonlllv In yielding Ita atrength and aubatance to other materials, without the gocd name aooomparoing. the American Zinc Institute, Insti-tute, an organisation composed of those Interested in the metal's welfare, adopted a reooiutiun. at Ita annual meeting at St Louis, asking the world to ceJI sine by Ita proper name, urging the miner to call his ores "sine" and nol "Jack." the smolterlee to refer to their product as "slab sin," and not "spelter." as heretofore, hereto-fore, an.) t. ak the public to realise that the sheet of steel to alnc-coated. Instead "f bring "galvanise"' or "oherodlied " and that luuaa la firm and hard and sharp because o( tho sine that It contains. con-tains. It la the returned soldier who Is causing caus-ing Ihe present Inquiry about sine and sine sheets. cn his Important trip to ancient Oaul. a few months ago this live wire found in u-e in France. Bel-glum Bel-glum and southern (Icrmany roofing material not used In his own land. It was sine. Probing into the matter. Its found that, notwithstanding the Hun had desti.,c,l mum of the buildings. tl ha sahaged the sine roof and bore It away villi him, in his harried night to the right side or the llhlne The ilnc sheets had not only outlasted lb, masonry, but were still useful to ho romclted Into 'munitions 'muni-tions of war. e e Manx- of the principal buildings of weatorn Kurope are roofed with fine sheets. Cathedrals, theaters. warehouses ware-houses ami university buildings are of tho character thua covered. Many of these structures have worn the same sine roof for fitly years, mid If the buildings fall to decay the sine In the roof will still DS worth Its weight as alnc. The chemistry of the matter la. (hat sine, when exposed to the atmosphere, forma a thin, hmd film ou the outer surface sur-face thai forever seals the underlying molal artalnst further contact. Zln rooN need no pn Int. they are self. protecting ngaluM weather wear. The returned sohllets. ninny of whoni are architects, or In the building trades, are asking for rlnc for roofing purposes. They want a roof as lasting as the foundation of the sliuctuie they are erecting ore than a hundred nuuni-facturers nuuni-facturers of'rooftM acoegiorlea, ,uch as i Mao tolls, cave troughs, conductor pipe. WHO have heretofore tnade their product out of slnc-coated steel or tin. ate pre-Mfinfl pre-Mfinfl MrVS the demand by forming these roofing necessities of sine sheet. America will profit by the introduction of (his valuable I'm in of roofing, and sine may. by tlila extended use. recover lis good name. |